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Review: The Hitman’s Bodyguard

Welcome to The Hitman’s Bodyguard, the buddy comedy/action film you could have never seen coming. Samuel L. Jackson plays the skilled hitman. Ryan Reynolds is his begrudging bodyguard. They hate one another after a long history of trying to protect and assassinate the same person on more than one occasion. The two develop an obscenity-rich relationship as they attempt to get Jackson’s Darius Kincaid to the Hague in time to testify in the war crimes tribunal of Gary Oldman’s Belarussian president Dukhovich. I should take a moment here to tell you I’ve had a crush on Oldman since Rosencrantz and usually adore what he does onscreen. This time I found him quite tedious and lacking in the accent department.

Both stars do bring their trademark charisma and persona to the screen in this odd-couple matchup. One with so many swears, Reynold’s Michael Bryce muses that Kincaid “singlehandedly ruins the word motherf***er.” Sadly, there aren’t enough good moments to make it a great film. Though uneven in both the action and comedy departments, The Hitman’s Bodyguard does have some gorgeous scenery provided by Amsterdam, London, and Belarus. It also has a particularly entertaining soundtrack peppered with just the right amount of blues.

Really, really short review: Needs a boost of action and comedy to make it gold, but The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a small-screen diversion with some good moments.